Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 27: Taking serious note of the abysmally low response to the communications from the Vigilance Organization for initiation of departmental action, the Government has issued a new set of instructions to all the departments for strict compliance in order to reduce delays in departmental enquiries.
The Vigilance Organization recommends departmental action in many cases pursuant to which the departments are required to initiate disciplinary proceedings in accordance with the procedures laid down in Rule 33 of J&K Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956 and conclude the same in a time bound manner to avoid hardships to the employees, whose vigilance clearance, required for various purposes, gets unnecessarily held up.
However, it has been observed that the departmental response to the communications from the Vigilance Organization and Vigilance Wing of the General Administration Department for initiation of departmental action by the Administrative Departments is abysmally low.
It has also been observed that as and when the General Administration Department is approached by the various departments for obtaining the vigilance status of its employees for considering their promotion or for other purposes, the departments don’t provide complete service record of the employees resulting in avoidable delays.
Now, in order to ensure that the vigilance matters are addressed on top priority and the pending cases of enquiries settled in a time bound manner, the General Administration Department has issued a new set of instructions to all the departments.
According to the circular issued by Mohd Ashraf Bukhari, Secretary GAD, all the departments should consolidate the details of the vigilance cases referred to them by the GAD (Vigilance) or Vigilance Organization, from time to time, and prepare a reliable database which should include gist of pending departmental enquiries/ preliminary enquiries/complaints and their status.
“The complaints forwarded by the Vigilance Organization/ GAD should be disposed of within a period of one month with proper intimation to Vigilance Organization and Vigilance Wing of GAD”, the circular said, adding “in respect of the case referred to by the Vigilance Organization for preliminary enquiries, the necessary action should be completed within a period of 45 days”.
As far as the cases where regular departmental enquiry has been recommended, the departments have been directed that the matter should be critically examined on the basis of inputs received from the Vigilance Organization to determine as to whether a case for initiation of departmental proceedings is made out or not. If required, the departments can obtain clarifications from the Vigilance Organization/GAD Vigilance Wing.
“After arriving at a conclusion that the departmental proceedings are to be initiated, Articles of Charges should be framed and served upon the delinquent official through an Office Memo along with the statement of imputation”, the circular said, adding “the charged officer/official should be given adequate opportunity to present his case in person or through advocate. Moreover, he should be given access to all records/documents related to the case”.
Only those officers, who are conversant with the procedures relating to the conduct of enquiries should be appointed as Inquiry Officers and if it is felt that there is a need to organize Special Training Programmes with a view to acquainting the officers with the laid down procedures governing conduct of enquiries, the same should be organized in consultation with GAD and J&K Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development, the circular further said.
In order to ensure that enquires are conducted in a time bound manner, the departments have been asked to ensure that whole process right from serving of the charge sheet up to the conclusion of inquiry should not ordinarily take more than six months. “While taking action in accordance with the rules it should be ensured that principles of natural justice are followed and charged official given opportunity of being heard”, circular said.
According to the new set of instructions, in case the Inquiry Officer fails to complete the inquiry in a time bound manner the matter will be reported to the GAD for action against him. “In case it is decided by the competent authority to impose major penalty upon the delinquent official the J&K Public Service Commission should be consulted as mandated under Section 133 of the Constitution of the State”, the circular said, adding “an opportunity of filing an appeal to a Government servant upon whom a penalty imposed, should be provided in accordance with Rule 37 of J&K Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956.
All the Administrative Secretaries and Heads of Departments have also been directed to periodically review vigilance cases/departmental enquiries pending at various stages and issue necessary directions. “A mechanism should be put in place by GAD Vigilance to gather information on regular intervals and remain updated about the status of various cases/departmental enquiries”, the circular said.
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